“So, this is indeed someone who's only interested in assassinating the emperor, but not interested in becoming one himself?”

That night, Hu Ma stayed at the manor, drinking ten jars of wine, and for the first time, he gained such a clear understanding of Lao Junmei's past.

Of course, this was also related to the change in attitude of Senior Brother Bu Shi Niu towards him.

Before this, neither this senior brother, nor anyone else from Bu Shi Niu, would have told him so many details about the Great Virtuous Teacher.

Even when they did speak of him, it was always the same unified account, nothing more than how the sky was filled with red light at his birth, how he was compassionate and righteous when he grew up, and how he received a divinely bestowed heavenly book, all sorts of extraordinary things, with everyone holding a mentality of instructing the venerable.

This kind of mentality was extremely common in this world. Although Bu Shi Niu were all outliers, they couldn't escape this habit either.

And the Great Virtuous Teacher described through this consciousness naturally seemed unreal, and even more unfathomable.

But this time, that senior brother from Bu Shi Niu even mentioned how this Great Virtuous Teacher was chased around like a dog when he was young, and how he stole sweet potatoes from other people's fields when he ran out of money while wandering the martial world, earning many nicknames, which were later all erased as black history.

Hu Ma understood in his heart that the Great Virtuous Teacher he now knew was the real him.

Or rather, Lao Junmei.

The Great Virtuous Teacher was just one of Lao Junmei's larger aliases, who knows how many smaller ones he had in the martial world!

One of them even claimed to be some kind of "Stepping on the Moon, Leaving Fragrance" thief, but who ever heard of a Chu Liuxiang going out at night to steal leftovers?

And the next morning, as he left the manor and set off again, Hu Ma was also pondering the three different stages of this man code-named Lao Junmei's rich and colorful life.

Imagining what this person had experienced and what he had comprehended.

The first stage was that of a wealthy young master, different from others from the moment he was born, speaking at the age of three, literate, and full of strange ideas.

He didn't learn any of the sage's words and deeds taught by the private tutor hired by his family, nor did he practice calligraphy, but instead developed many ideas about the strange news from all over the world, and relying on his family's wealth, he went everywhere to learn martial arts and seek teachers, carefree and unrestrained.

By the age of thirteen, his family could no longer control him, and although he hadn't fully mastered his skills at that time, he couldn't wait to run out and make a name for himself in the martial world and increase his knowledge.

The days of wandering the martial world were also hard, not as comfortable as being at home, but Senior Brother Bu Shi Niu thought that those days of following the young master outside, although they often had no money and didn't know where the next meal was coming from, were happy.

He visited masters everywhere, slaying demons and eliminating bandits. His skills gradually increased, and he also began to meet many good friends in this martial world, exchanging pointers and improving together.

But as his skills gradually improved, he also began to transition to the second stage, because of saving people.

The young master was naturally fond of saving people, liked the way others were grateful to him, and felt that the best feast was when he helped a village get rid of demons and ghosts, and斬了恶匪 *zhan le e fei* (eradicated bandits), and the people generously brought out the best food from the village, even if it was just some salted meat and pickled eggs.

But doing such a thing once was novel, doing it twice was fun, and he would even actively look for it.

But every time he went to a place, he would find such injustices, and everywhere he looked, there were demons and ghosts eating people, and he became annoyed.

He began to not think it was a good thing, and began to grumble about whether there was something wrong with this world.

And the change began with a blood food mine incident, when the world's major blood food mines were still controlled by the Douyi Dynasty.

Because of a demon and ghost causing trouble, the young master personally watched as more than a hundred lives in the mine were filled into it, including even a little girl who had just given the hungry young master a cornbread the day before, and so the young master was outraged for the first time.

He wielded his saber at night and killed the then-prefectural governor, wanting to distribute food and gold to those who were still alive in the mine, and let them go home.

But no one paid any attention to him, everyone just looked at him in horror.

Disaster struck.

Those who had been saved by him in the mine at that time were all killed under the ambush of the Douyi army, leaving no one alive.

The young master couldn't save anyone, and instead began to fall into endless assassinations.

The Douyi Dynasty at that time was much larger than it is now, and all kinds of experts were in its hands, placing this bold martial world bandit on a wanted list.

So the second stage of this young master's life began. He faced countless pursuits by court experts, experienced countless near-death experiences, but because he was bold and careful, he made countless friends in the martial world, and not only did he not die, but he gradually gained momentum.

After countless life-and-death trials, his skills began to gradually become outstanding.

Not only did he not die in the pursuit of the Douyi Dynasty, but he gradually recruited a large group of martial world eccentrics and mountain bandits, becoming sworn brothers with them and forming his own martial world force.

At its peak, he was even known as the master of the seventy-two helms of heaven, earth, north, and south.

Later, because no matter how they counted, they couldn't get to seventy-two helms, either too many or too few, this name was never popular in the martial world.

And at that time, in the Zhen Sui (Demon Suppression) Bureau of the Douyi Dynasty, when they offered a reward for him, the best-sounding nickname was only "Tiger with Wings," or "Liu Mazi" or something like that.

The young master at that time began to realize that martial world figures could not achieve great things and would die sooner or later, so he secluded himself for a day and a half, and when he came out of seclusion, he decided to create a Daoist tradition, calling himself the Great Virtuous Teacher, saving people from suffering.

In the past, he mainly focused on escaping pursuit, but later he took on the task of saving the common people, and as a result, his momentum gradually rose, and even once surpassed the time when he was friends with martial world figures.

It was also at that time that even the people of the Da Luo (Great Canopy) Buddhist Sect came to visit him at a blessing ceremony. They looked at the talisman water used to boil rice and porridge, and the demon-suppressing talismans that secretly recorded the location of the government granaries, and believed that the Great Virtuous Teacher truly possessed divine power and was no ordinary person.

It was ridiculous to say that, as the Douyi's national protecting sect, they became friends with the number one rebel leader in the world.

But the momentum had risen, was he going to seize the world, or become king of the mountain?

The young master hadn't thought about it for a while, but he often felt uneasy, and he didn't laugh and make trouble as often as he did when he was young, but instead remained silent day and night, and the change in this stage began when the Douyi royal family personally took action against him.

Because the Great Virtuous Teacher's name became more and more famous, threatening the stability of the Douyi royal family, the Douyi mobilized the power of the Twelve Ghost Altars and降下灾劫 *jiang xia zai jie* (brought down disaster).

The Twelve Ghost Altars were the foundation of Douyi,镇天地气运 *zhen tian di qi yun* (suppressing the luck of heaven and earth). Drawing out a trace of their aura was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

That night, black winds fell from the sky, ghosts cried and gods wailed, and the area within thousands of miles where the Great Virtuous Teacher was located was wiped out overnight, leaving no grass growing.

That was an event that was not recorded on paper and had long been forgotten, but in terms of horror, it could rank in the top three.

Senior Brother Bu Shi Niu was on a mission outside at the time, and when he rushed back, he was frightened to death.

But no one expected that within thousands of miles, the people were all dead, the subordinates were all dead, but the Great Virtuous Teacher survived. He came to Senior Brother Bu Shi Niu in tattered clothes from the midst of devastation, with a miserable smile on his face, and said, "I understand."

"It turns out that we came here because we were born with debt on our backs..."

Since then, the young master returned to his former happy and improper self. He no longer created Daoist traditions or gathered disaster victims, but instead widely accepted disciples, but no longer acted openly, but instead taught secretly.

Even the name of this Daoist tradition was just casually taken as Bu Shi Niu.

And many of Bu Shi Niu's traditions, such as not valuing Dharma, deceiving gods and ghosts, and instigating people to rebel everywhere, were also passed down at that time.

And at this time, the young master, or rather Lao Junmei, also began to reorganize his skills.

He recalled the past, how he had traveled thousands of miles of mountains and rivers when he was young, and thus refined the 量天靴 *Liang Tian Xue* (Measuring Heaven Boots); how he had led the suffering people in a bitter battle against Douyi in his middle age, and thus created the 破烂甲 *Po Lan Jia* (Ragged Armor).

And now, after being struck by the Twelve Ghost Altars, he began to take his skills a step further, cultivating the 大威天公将军印 *Da Wei Tian Gong Jiang Jun Yin* (Great Might Heavenly Duke General Seal). To cultivate this technique, he traveled the martial world, challenging everywhere.

He also went deep into the Yin Mansion, cultivated in the land of the dead, and even broke into the Da Luo Buddhist Sect's temple to discuss Dharma, and searched everywhere for temple gods to learn about the past.

Gradually, his name became more and more famous, and his skills were astonishing. Even the Douyi's Demon Suppression Bureau didn't dare to touch him casually, and even used the Da Luo Buddhist Sect to pass on words several times, wanting to invite him to court to become an official.

But he repeatedly agreed on the surface, but never went, and often disappeared, even leaving the affairs of Bu Shi Niu aside. Even when the "Great Virtuous Teacher" was needed, there would always be other people who would take on this name and appear.

Some had solitary personalities, some were honest and kind, and some were like women...

The saying that the Great Virtuous Teacher had a thousand faces and was ever-changing came from this.

This third stage was the longest stage Lao Junmei experienced, and also the most mysterious stage. Even Senior Brother Bu Shi Niu, who had followed him for most of his life, didn't know what he did in this stage.

He only remembered that in this stage, his skills progressed the most, to the point where people couldn't understand them, and finally, twenty-four years ago, the master came before him.

"Xiao Heizi, I'm going to Shangjing!"

Senior Brother Bu Shi Niu remembered that the master said to him, "I understood too late, and they understood too late."

"We were invited here, so we were born with debt on our backs."

"I'm going to do something big. This thing might not succeed, but it must be done first before there is a chance."

"I will die, but I will come back. Someone will figure out the other half for me, and that other half is what he has to do."

"..."

He explained these things, and also arranged some affairs for the eight disciples of Bu Shi Niu, and then left.

Even Senior Brother Bu Shi Niu didn't expect that this trip would be like this. He heard the result several months later. He heard that the young master entered Shangjing and actually became an official, second only to one person and above ten thousand, but he didn't hold this position for long before he rebelled on the spot, facing the country alone, killing his way into the Golden Luan Hall, and剥皮示众 *bo pi shi zhong* (flaying and displaying) the Douyi emperor.

He heard that someone used the "extinction curse,"滅絕了都夷一族 *mie jue le Douyi yi zu* (exterminating the Douyi clan), one hundred and seventy thousand people.

Just like that, the Douyi Dynasty, which had sat on the world for two hundred and forty years, was cut off so abruptly.

But he also remembered that the young master said that this was only half of what he wanted to do. He entrusted the other half to others.